Hubble spies Pinwheel galaxy in pin-sharp detail

Galactic gallery released

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Images released today from the Hubble Space Telescope show the gigantic Pinwheel galaxy in unprecedented detail. Regions where stars are born are clearly visible in the set.

The spectacular super-high definition main portrait (pictured right) is actually a composite of 51 individual exposures.

The Pinwheel sits face-on 25m light years away in the constellation Ursa Major, and contains at least a trillion stars, and 100 billion which are probably similar to our sun in heat and lifespan. At 170,000 light-years across, the spiral is about twice the diameter of the Milky Way.